Looking at the numbers, the Eagle Ford Shale has done astounding things for the South Texas economy.

The economic impact of the 20 counties most largely affected by the shale was $61 billion for 2012. The information was part of an economic impact study on the Eagle Ford Shale released by the Institute for Economic Development at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

To give that some perspective, the 2011 impact was $25 billion, so it has more than doubled from 2011 to 2012.

The study breaks most of the information into two sets of numbers; the first set encompasses the 20 counties that are the most impacted by the Eagle Ford, and the second set breaks it down even further into the 14 counties that actually produce the oil and gas.

The 14-county area includes McMullen, Live Oak, Bee and Karnes counties. The report did not break up the data further by each individual county but lumped the 14 together.

According to the study, the total economic input for the 14-county area is $46.6 billion.

It is also stated that approximately 86,000 full-time jobs are supported by the industry in those 14 counties with salaries and benefits for those employees coming out to roughly $3.3 billion.

The jobs for the 20-county region is even greater, partly because the region includes cities such as Corpus Christi and San Antonio, where larger offices have been put in place.

The 20-county region supports approximately 116,500 jobs.

The influx of jobs created by the industry is not only expanding the pocketbooks of the workers but also revenues at a local and state level.

More than $800 million has been brought in as local government revenues, and approximately $374 million has been brought in as state revenue for the 14-county region.

Those numbers are higher for the 20-county region.

The report also gave a glimpse into what could possibly be expected in the future based on a moderate scenario.

“In 2022, government revenues will be increased to an estimate of $1.8 million locally and $1.9 billion state level, including severance taxes close to $971 million.”

The report also gives an estimate for the number of oil and gas wells that will be drilled each year. In the moderate scenario, 2013 leads with most wells drilled over the next nine years at 3,136, just 153 more than were drilled in 2012.

After 2013, it shows a decline in the three years following and cites the move from drilling to the extracting and processing as the reason.

“The rise and fall in new well activity over the forecast period are attributable to lag effects projected price declines by the Energy Information Administration,” the report said.

For those still questioning if the Eagle Ford is real, the numbers don’t lie.

According to Tom Tunstall, the lead researcher for the Eagle Ford Shale economic impact study, “As of right now, it (the Eagle Ford) appears to be the most invested shale as far as capital.”

Companies invest every day into the technology needed to keep the production going, whether it be oil, gas or condensate.

Tunstall said, “If things slow down it won’t be because there isn’t anymore oil and gas to find.”

*Editor’s note: This is part one of a two-part series that breaks down the information included in the latest economic impact study released by the Institute for Economic Development at the University of Texas at San Antonio.